Tuning into improvisation

Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au

IMPROVISATION has transformed the way composer and performer Anne Norman thinks and feels about music.

The internationally renowned shakuhachi player (a type of Japanese flute) is co-running musical improvisation workshops this month and next.

Participants will step into the unknown in the acoustic series for strings, wind, percussion, keyboard and voice.

A classically trained musician, Norman says she played and wrote music for decades before discovering the freedom of improvisation following a change in life circumstances.

 “I started working with actors and dancers and, in creating music for them, I found I could use their bodies as my score, and it was really liberating,” she said.

Windows opened up and Norman delved further into the world of music improvisation, studying techniques and honing her skills to better respond to sound and visual cues.

Norman says improvised music allows for self-expression and fosters a strong, creative relationship between musician and instrument.

“It can be incredibly exciting when you are in free impro mode with another artist and you both move in the same direction at the same time,” she said. “It also enhances your listening skills and your awareness of the other. It can actually be quite mystical at times.”

The workshops will be held by Norman and musician Paol Grage from the Mornington Improv Collective.

The $30 a session workshops subsidised by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council are for skilled musicians who want to try musical improvisation will be held at Saint Marks Uniting Church, Mornington, from 7pm on Wednesday 28 February and 6, 13, 20 and 27 March.

Details: events.humanitix.com/summer-improvisation-workshops/tickets

Picture: Yanni